Article 3
1. The Parties included in Annex I shall, individually or jointly,
ensure that their aggregate anthropogenic carbon dioxide equivalent
emissions of the greenhouse gases listed in Annex A do not exceed
their assigned amounts, calculated pursuant to their quantified
emission limitation and reduction commitments inscribed in Annex B
and in accordance with the provisions of this Article, with a view to
reducing their overall emissions of such gases by at least 5 per cent
below 1990 levels in the commitment period 2008 to 2012.
2. Each Party included in Annex I shall, by 2005, have made
demonstrable progress in achieving its commitments under this
Protocol.
3. The net changes in greenhouse gas emissions from sources and
removals by sinks resulting from direct human-induced land use change
and forestry activities, limited to afforestation, reforestation, and
deforestation since 1990, measured as verifiable changes in stocks in
each commitment period shall be used to meet the commitments in this
Article of each Party included in Annex I. The greenhouse gas
emissions from sources and removals by sinks associated with those
activities shall be reported in a transparent and verifiable manner
and reviewed in accordance with Articles 7 and 8.
4. Prior to the first session of the Conference of the Parties
serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol, each Party
included in Annex I shall provide for consideration by the Subsidiary
Body for Scientific and Technological Advice data to establish its
level of carbon stocks in 1990 and to enable an estimate to be made
of its changes in carbon stocks in subsequent years. The Conference
of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol
shall, at its first session or as soon as practicable thereafter,
decide upon modalities, rules and guidelines as to how and which
additional human-induced activities related to changes in greenhouse
gas emissions and removals in the agricultural soil and land use
change and forestry categories, shall be added to, or subtracted
from, the assigned amount for Parties included in Annex I, taking
into account uncertainties, transparency in reporting, verifiability,
the methodological work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change, the advice provided by the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and
Technological Advice in accordance with Article 5 and the decisions
of the Conference of the Parties. Such a decision shall apply in the
second and subsequent commitment periods. A Party may choose to apply
such a decision on these additional human-induced activities for its
first commitment period, provided that these activities have taken
place since 1990.
5. The Parties included in Annex I undergoing the process of
transition to a market economy whose base year or period was
established pursuant to decision 9/CP.2 of the Conference of the
Parties at its second session, shall use that base year or period for
the implementation of their commitments under this Article. Any other
Party included in
Annex I undergoing the process of transition to a market economy
which has not yet submitted its first national communication under
Article 12 of the Convention may also notify the Conference of the
Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol that
it intends to use a historical base year or period other than 1990
for the implementation of its commitments under this Article. The
Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to
this Protocol shall decide on the acceptance of such
notification.
6. Taking into account Article 4, paragraph 6, of the Convention,
in the implementation of their commitments under this Protocol other
than those in this Article, a certain degree of
flexibility shall be allowed by the Conference of the Parties
serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol to the Parties
included in Annex I undergoing the process of transition to a market
economy.
7. In the first quantified emission limitation and reduction
commitment period, from
2008 to 2012, the assigned amount for each Party included in Annex
I shall be equal to the percentage inscribed for it in Annex B of its
aggregate anthropogenic carbon dioxide equivalent emissions of the
greenhouse gases listed in Annex A in 1990, or the base year or
period determined in accordance with paragraph 5 above, multiplied by
five. Those Parties included in Annex I for whom land use change and
forestry constituted a net source of greenhouse gas emissions in 1990
shall include in their 1990 emissions base year or period the
aggregate anthropogenic carbon dioxide equivalent emissions minus
removals in 1990 from land use change for the purposes of calculating
their assigned amount.
8. Any Party included in Annex I may use 1995 as its base year for
hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulphur hexafluoride, for
the purposes of the calculation referred to in paragraph 7
above.
9. Commitments for subsequent periods for Parties included in
Annex I shall be established in amendments to Annex B to this
Protocol, which shall be adopted in accordance with the provisions of
Article 20, paragraph 7. The Conference of the Parties serving as the
meeting of the Parties to this Protocol shall initiate the
consideration of such commitments at least seven years before the end
of the first commitment period mentioned in paragraph 7
above.
10. Any emission reduction units, or any part of an assigned
amount, which a Party acquires from another Party in accordance with
the provisions of Article 6 and of Article 16 bis shall be added to
the assigned amount for that Party.
11. Any emission reduction units, or any part of an assigned
amount, which a Party transfers to another Party in accordance with
the provisions of Article 6 and of Article 16 bis shall be subtracted
from the assigned amount for that Party.
12. Any certified emission reductions which a Party acquires from
another Party in accordance with the provisions of Article 12 shall
be added to the assigned amount for that Party.
13. If the emissions of a Party included in Annex I during a
commitment period are less than its assigned amount under this
Article, this difference shall, on request of that Party, be added to
the assigned amount for that Party for subsequent commitment
periods.
14. Each Party included in Annex I shall strive to implement the
commitments mentioned in paragraph 1 above in such a way as to
minimize adverse social, environmental and economic impacts on
developing country Parties, particularly those identified in Article
4, paragraphs 8 and 9, of the Convention. In line with relevant
decisions of the Conference of the Parties on the implementation of
those paragraphs, the Conference of the Parties serving as the
meeting of the Parties to this Protocol shall, at its first session,
consider what actions are necessary to minimize the adverse effects
of climate change and/or the impacts of response measures on Parties
referred to in those paragraphs. Among the issues to be considered
shall be the establishment of funding, insurance and transfer of
technology.